15 Hunted

Blinding light had Ella covering her face and blinking. “Where is it!” her stepmother screeched, pulling the chain to the bare bulb above Ella’s bed but continuing to shine the flashlight in Ella’s face. “Where the hell is that gown?” she demanded.

Ella hadn’t fallen asleep yet, but she had been on her way. Her thoughts had been on Rome, of how peaceful it had been to stand in the garden with him, to hold his hand, to kiss his lips. She’d been so relaxed; it had been like floating on a cloud, in the world’s best dream.

Then, Teresa had shown up and ruined everything.

Rubbing her eyes, Ella sat up as Teresa ripped the blanket off of her bed and tossed it on the floor, just to be rude. “Where is… what?”

“Don’t play stupid with me, young lady!” She was over at the armoire now, where Ella’s few articles of clothing hung, pulling items off of hangers and dropping them on the ground. Then she saw the dress bag. “Ah ha!” She pulled it out and flung it on the bed.

Ella pulled her feet out of the way, curling into a ball, as Teresa came over and yanked the zipper down. “It’s not here!”

“No, I don’t have it,” Ella lied. “Tim just borrowed it. I had to give it back. All of it.”

“What!” she screeched. “Why in the world would he do that?”

“I don’t know, Mother. But that’s what he said. I came in and changed and gave all of it back to him. All of it. Even the hairpins.”

Teresa was breathing so deeply through her nose, with every inhale, it sharpened to a point almost as sharp as a needle. “I don’t believe you! Your cousin absolutely adores you. There’s no way in the world he could possibly take that dress from you!”

Ella shrugged. “He said he’d borrowed it from a friend, and she wanted it back, that he hadn’t had time to get something himself.”

Her stepmother continued to glare at her for a while before she shouted, “Up!”

“What?” Ella asked, but Teresa wasn’t waiting. She started lifting the mattress off of the rusted bed frame before Ella could get her bare feet on the ground. She just managed to pull herself off when Teresa flipped the mattress onto the floor.

There was nothing there, of course. Nothing smashed between the mattress and box springs. She pulled those off, too, but there was nothing beneath the bed.

With a growl, Teresa threw the flashlight at the mattress and then headed back to the closet. She took every garment out and tossed it on the floor and then practically climbed into the piece to see if it was truly empty. Satisfied that it was, she went to Ella’s feeble dresser drawers and pulled everything out of that as well, including her underwear, which were now strewn all over the ground. “Ugh. These are gross--worse than my grandmother’s!” she snorted.

There was no point in mentioning that Teresa had taken all of her nice panties when she’d first moved in. So Ella said nothing at all.

Continuing to go around the room, Teresa looked everywhere she could think of, everywhere she could see. She went across the room, near where Ella had hidden Rome’s phone, but she didn’t get down on her belly and look in the wall, nor did she crawl around anywhere else.

After at least ten minutes of searching, Teresa screeched again and then turned and stomped toward Ella.

Trying not to cower, Ella held her ground, though Teresa was intimidating. She was already taller than Ella and still had on her heels from the ball. “If I find out that you’re lying to me, I will make you pay, do you understand? That gown and those jewels were far too good for the likes of you. If you have them, you had better give them to me so that I can give them to my daughters, people who deserve them. You looked like a little whore out there tonight! I was so embarrassed for you! I was so glad that no one saw us together and realized you’re my stepdaughter! The next time there is a situation like this, I don’t care if you have to tell your cousin you hate him and that he should go to hell, you do not leave this house, ever again! Do you hear me?!”

Ella held back her tears because she didn’t want to give Teresa the satisfaction of seeing her cry, but her heart was breaking. “Y-y-yes, Mother.”

Without warning, Teresa brought back her hand and slapped Ella across the face, whipping her head to the side. The reverberation echoed in the room, and the sting spread throughout her cheek, making the entire side of her face burn and ache.

“Don’t make me have to do that again!”

Teresa bent and picked up her flashlight and stomped out the door.

Once the barrier was closed, Ella couldn’t keep her tears back anymore. They trickled down her cheeks, and she felt her body begin to vibrate in a silent sob.

“Lights out! Now!” her stepmother screamed from the stairs.

Ella reached up and pulled the chain to turn the bulb off and then sank to the floor, hugging her knees against her chest. She’d gone from the highest cloud to the lowest puddle all in the matter of hours.

She couldn’t understand how someone her father loved could hate her so much. How was it possible that anyone could hold so much anger inside of them? What had Ella ever done to be treated this way?

When she was with Rome, she felt like she could fly, like she was the most beautiful, important woman in the world. Of course, he hadn't even seen her face--but he had told her she was beautiful, and he seemed to mean it. Tim had said the same thing, and he knew exactly what she looked like. Her aunt had said she looked exactly like her mother--and there was no doubt her mother was gorgeous. Was it possible Teresa, Anna, and Drew were only trying to make her feel ugly, like she wouldn’t fit in, in order to keep her here? After all, she’d met many people at the ball, and all of them were so nice and kind. It wasn’t as if the people in California were all mean, as she’d been told.

But why would they lie to her? Why would they try to keep her locked inside of the attic? None of it made any sense to her.

Lying among the only clothes she owned, which were mostly rags, Ella felt worthless, like she would be better off gone from this life. But when she was with Rome, she’d felt alive and full of possibility. What if the two of them truly could be together? What if he really could love her? Could they build a life together? Would her father allow her to be with a Verona, or would he disown her? And if he did disown her, would it be worth it to be with Rome but lose her dad? And how would she make any money if her father fired her from her job?

Wiping away her tears, Ella took deep breaths and tried to focus. She was acting silly, feeling sorry for herself. A lot of people would kill for the life she had. Not only did she have a job she loved, she had a father who provided for her, a cousin and two aunts who adored her, and a sweet friend in Mary. Tonight, she’d even met a famous Hollywood actor who had given her some beautiful memories to hang onto, memories no one could take away from her.

Ella cleaned up her room as quietly as she could. With any luck, her cousins were either sleeping over at someone else’s house, or already in their rooms asleep for the night. If she was too loud, she’d likely get in trouble for picking up the mess her stepmother had made in her room.

Once everything was put back the way it should be, Ella wandered over to the window and stared out at the moonlit yard. The small opening gave her a view of the side yard. The view was nothing compared to the fountain and gardens she’d seen earlier, but it was nice to sit there and look at the great big world, thinking of how free she’d felt earlier with the air blowing in her face and the moonlight on her skin. She thought of the little bird who liked to sit here and wished she could have that sort of freedom all the time. But she was a caged bird, and her song had been stolen.

The possibility of telling Tim or contacting her father came to mind. If Teresa tried to have her locked up, her cousin would stop her, wouldn’t he? Would her father stand for that? She couldn’t continue to live this way. Teresa was starting to break her spirit, and after tonight, she had to assume that was the woman’s goal.

No, she’d have to find some way to end this, to get out on her own, to find freedom, or else, she’d go crazy here, and then it wouldn’t matter if she was locked up in an asylum--that would be where she belonged.

Even now, as she peered out at the night, she thought she saw something odd, something… impossible. It looked like a man was scaling the high brick wall that separated their yard from the neighbors’. It was difficult to tell in the dim light and with so many shrubs, bushes, and trees along the wall, but the more she watched, the more Ella realized her eyes weren’t fooling her. There was a man climbing over the wall, and after he dropped to the ground, he started slowly making his way toward the house, sticking to the shadows, trying not to be seen. But she saw him. Now, she just had to decide what to do about it.